Update on NAZCA

Last year the UN created NAZCA, a space for everyone except national governments, to commit to climate action as a complement to the Lima – Paris Action Agenda. As it stands, 680 companies have registered, with 18 ‘Cooperative Initiatives‘, networks of civil society organisations, businesses that have clubbed together to achieve collective targets and share support. As a global action platform, these figures appear underrepresented with only three months to go until COP21. The most popular theme is Transportation for targets. Of the 144 commitments, there is a healthy spread from Jordan to Canada, Egypt to Mongolia.

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“Community’s vision for its future emphasizes education and creativity, a growing sustainable economy, and environmental leadership”.

A year and a day after the Community Sustainability Plan Steering Committee was announced, the final draft of Oxford’s first Community Sustainability Plan was tabled and endorsed at County Council last week. We have worked with them and our partners InDeco since 2014 in a thorough and ambitious public engagement process. Online, this included a website futureoxford.ca (http://www.futureoxford.ca/) and related social media tools and offline, World Cafe’s and a competition for community members and students to envision Oxford County life in 2030, using video, artwork or writing. They also recently gained attention for their aspirational target to be 100% renewable by 2050! Read more

http://www.ssg.coop/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/SSG-Web-73-1920px-duo.jpg7601920Jeremy Murphyhttp://www.ssg.coop/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/ssg_logo.pngJeremy Murphy2015-07-07 10:23:332018-05-22 12:19:50SSG Newswire June 2015: How does our work at the provincial level affect the bigger picture?

Co-operatives UK, the membership body for cooperatives, made a pledge for it’s members to be fossil fuel free by 2030. The pledge occurred in the course of a session on sustainability at the National Congress ‘Co-operation: Now’ in Birmingham Town Hall. Co-operatives UK will work with members and partners on the action plan for this year.

“Co-operatives operate on a set of seven democratic and community-serving principles, said Petronella Tyson of SSG, “and this commitment to substantively address climate change reflects those principles.” Petronella Tyson helped to set the stage for the session on co-operatives and sustainability at the Congress. SSG is a workers co-operative of community planners for climate action, who have been working closely with the International Cooperative Alliance.
Co-operatives UK joins other leading networks such as the C40 Cities, We Mean Business global coalition and recently Europe’s six largest oil and gas companies, with ambitious efforts to address climate change prior to the UN COP21 Paris talks in December.

The announcement on climate change was accompanied by pledges to support youth networks, to enhance educational efforts on sustainability and co-operativism, to expand the network of renewable energy suppliers and finally to launch a sustainability network that will support and challenge cooperatives on their path toward sustainability. It joins successful outcomes of last years Congress, including the wide adoption of the Fair Tax Mark.

“We look forward to supporting co-operatives in the UK in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and advance sustainability” continued Petronella. “We believe sustainability is in the DNA of co-operatives.”

The UK’s co-operative economy is worth more than £37 billion. There are over 15 million members of co-operatives, making it one of the largest membership movements in the U.K. SSG is a workers co-operative consisting of urban planners, engineers and management consultants focussed on climate change mitigation and adaptation. SSG works with the International Cooperative Alliance on its Sustainability Advisory Group. Last year, they released a report on the role of co-operatives in addressing climate change at last year’s UN Climate talks in Lima, which will be the basis of the Cooperatives UK sustainability plan.

About Cooperatives UK
Co-operatives UK is the network for Britain’s thousands of co-operatives. It works to promote, develop and unite member-owned businesses across the economy. From high street retailers to community-owned pubs, fan-owned football clubs to farmer-controlled businesses, co-operatives are everywhere and together they are worth £37 billion to the British economy.www.uk.coop / @CooperativesUK

About SSG
SSG is a workers cooperative of inspired problem solvers working to address our complex climate and sustainability challenges.www.ssg.coop / @SSG_News